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Southwest Florida Awarded Nearly $345 Million in Government Grants in 20031/19/2005

FORT MYERS, FL - The Florida Gulf Coast University Small Business Development Center recently announced businesses in Southwest Florida were awarded nearly $345 million in federal government grants in fiscal year 2003.

The FGCU SBDC operates a Procurement Technical Assistance Center specifically to help local businesses apply for government grants. The grants are in addition to the SBDC's recent announcement that regional businesses received $86 million in federal government procurement contracts in fiscal year 2003.

Lee County led the area with $188.8 million in awards. Collier was second with $91.1 million, Hendry was third with $31.2 million and Charlotte was fourth with $30.1 million. Glades County received $3.3 million.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Consolidated Federal Funds Report On-Line Query System (www.census.gov/govs/www/cffr.html ), the total for the five-county area was $344,738,682.

Overall, businesses in the state of Florida received nearly $17.5 billion. Nationally, federal government agencies awarded grants totaling more than $441 billion between October 2002 and September 2003.

"The PTAC provides free, confidential, one-on-one advice to individuals who want to start a business or expand their business," procurement specialist and Certified Business Analyst Dan Telep Jr. said.

"The PTAC provides guidance on contracting with the federal, state, county and local governments, and provides guidance to established non-profit organizations that want to do business with the federal government through grant opportunities."

For more information, contact Telep at (239) 225-4218 or dtelep@fgcu.edu .